October 18 Illinois History Minute

It’s October 18th, the date on which the University of Illinois dedicated its new Memorial Stadium with a homecoming game that displayed football great Red Grange’s most memorable performance.

The 21-year-old Grange returned the opening kickoff and ran 95 yards for a touchdown --- the first of five Grange touchdowns in Illinois’ 39 to 13 upset win over Michigan.

Also on this day in 1996, the Hershey Foods Corporation announced it was buying Illinois-based Leaf North America from the Finnish conglomerate Huhtamaki Oy. The deal gave Hershey such candy brands as Milk Duds, Good & Plenty, Pay Day and Heath